Ellie

Ellie is a 14-year-old female, who co-stars alongside Joel in his post-apocalyptic romp through the United States.

Having been born after the fungal infection had already collapsed modern civilization as we know it, Ellie doesn't know a life aside from the high walls of the quarantine zone. She was raised in perpetual fear. This, of course, sparks within her an obsession with relics from the past culture, such as books and music. This, too, leads to troublesome times at the boarding house she resides in.

Something happens in her home that forces her to skip town with Joel. Together they trek west while hiding from the military and surviving other threats.

Ellie is shown to be capable, even aggressive, as she travels with Joel. At Naughty Dog's E3 2012 gameplay demo, she is seen picking up a brick and later throwing it at an enemy approaching Joel as he runs out of revolver ammo. At another point in that demo, she stabs the back of another enemy who is wrestling with Joel.

According to Naughty Dog, Ellie's character is heavily influenced by Mattie Ross from True Grit. She is portrayed as a character who is "coming-of-age" and is under the protection of Joel. "When she is around Joel, she is slightly being corrupted, but in some ways being given the tools to become independent." Her attitude towards Joel is slightly sarcastic.

In the prequel comic books, she is shown going through Quarantine Zones during her younger years. She meets Riley who is determined to get her out of her path to the military. She goes through a bunch of different quarantine zones and then meets Joel; her part of The Last of Us begins.

It is shown early on in the game that Ellie is immune to the infection, as she was bitten by a Runner 3 weeks before she meets Joel. She then embarks on a journey with Joel throughout the US in order to reach the Fireflies, hoping that they can use her to find a cure for the infection. However, it is revealed that in order make a cure, they have to extract her brain to get the parasite, essentially killing her. Joel rescues her from the Fireflies, and takes her back to Tommy's place. Joel lies to her, telling her that there were more people immune, but the Fireflies had failed to find a cure and have since stopped looking for one, and then he swears to her that his story his true. It's left ambiguous as to whether or not she believes him. Spoiler - Click to see/hide